Saudi Arabia Could Resume Flogging Raif Badawi: Human Rights Watch

A rally supporting Raif Badawi was held in Paris, France, on May 7.STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP via Getty Images

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June 11, 2015, 12:17 PM GMT / Updated June 11, 2015, 12:19 PM GMT

By Alexander Smith

Saudi Arabia could resume flogging an activist as early as Friday after the country's Supreme Court upheld its sentence of 1,000 lashings and 10 years in prison, according to a human-rights group.

Raif Badawi, 31, was convicted in 2013 of setting up a liberal website that Saudi officials said insulted religious authorities in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom.

The blogger's sentence was condemned by the United States, the United Nations and others. The State Department called it a "brutal punishment" and said Badawi had merely been "exercising his rights to freedom of expression and religion."

A rally supporting Raif Badawi was held in Paris, France, on May 7.STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP via Getty Images

The 1,000 lashes were to be administered in front of a mosque in the Saudi city of Jeddah, and administered in groups of 50 for 20 weeks every Friday.